Intake sprinkler for gas turbine engines



Nov. 12, 1957 4 N R. G. MESCHINQ 2,812,899

INTAKE SPRINKLER FOR GAS TURBINE ENGINES v Filed Aug. 10, 1950 2Sheets-Sheet 1 Nov. 12, 1957 e. MESCHINO 2,812,899

INTAKE SPRINKLER FOR GAS TURBINE ENGINES Filed Aug. 10, 1950 2Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent 2,812,899 INTAKE SPRINKLER FOR GASTURBINE ENGINES Ronald Guerin Meschino, Toronto, Ontario, Canada,assignor to A. V. Roe Canada Limited, Malton, 0ntario, Canada, acorporation Application August 10, 1950, Serial No. 178,602 Claimspriority, application Great Britain August 30, 1949 Claims. (Cl.230-132) This invention relates to methods for producing a spray ofliquid in the air intake of a gas turbine engine, more particularly inthe intake of such an engine employing an axial flow compressor anddesigned for use in aircraft.

The introduction of a spray of liquid into the air intake of a gasturbine engine is frequently desirable for such purposes as waterinjection or the application of an anti-icing fluid to the components ofthe air intake and to the first few rows of blades in the compressor.Those skilled in the art will be familiar with the benefits to bederived from the introduction of water or, more usually, awater-methanol mixture to the charge entering any internal combustionengine in order to cool the charge and so enable a greater mass of airto be introduced into the cycle. It is also commonly known that theapplication of alcohol or special anti-icing fluids to those aircraftcomponents subject to icing under adverse atmospheric conditions is aneffective method of preventing the ice formation. For both or either ofthese purposes it is desirable to have a light and simple installationdisposed in the air intake of a gas turbine engine for the uniformdistribution of the appropriate liquid throughout the air stream.

The air intake of a gas turbine engine is usually of annular form and,in the past, liquid for water injection or anti-icing purposes has beenintroduced by means of atomizing spray nozzles located at intervalsaround the wall of the intake and spraying transversely of the air flowinto the compressor. It will be readily appreciated that thisarrangement suffers from the disadvantage that the liquid can not beuniformly distributed around the annulus of the intake and in additionit has been found that a finely atomized spray does not penetrate thehigh velocity air stream effectively, the small droplets being carrieddownstream in a steep trajectory. Furthermore,

this system of multiple spray nozzles is itself subject to icing and thepiping involved in conducting the liquid to the nozzles is complicatedand heavy. Another system which has been proposed is the introduction ofa forwardly facing nozzle in the nose of the central fairing of theintake so that a conical spray, coaxial with the intake annulus isinjected forwardly into the air stream, so

obtaining comparatively uniform circumferential distribution. Howeverthis arrangement also suffers from the disadvantage of inadequate radialpenetration across the air stream.

The object of this invention is to provide a means of spraying liquidacross the area of the intake in such a way that it is uniformlydistributed over the area both radially and circumferentially, withoutobstructing the flow of air through the intake.

This object is achieved by a sprinkler comprising a spinner which fairssmoothly into the contour of one of the fixed walls of the annular airintake of the engine at the forward end thereof adjacent the entry ofthe intake, forming a continuation of the wall and thus providing asmooth unobstructed passage for the air through the intake, and whichhas at least one hole in its surface forming an outlet opening into theannular intake, and is supplied with liquid for ejection from the outletacross other than radial so that ejection of the liquid from the "icethe air inlet into the air entering the intake and is rotated about aline coincident with the longitudinal axis of the intake.

The invention will be more readily understood from consideration of thefollowing description of a typical application thereof and of two.variants embodying alternative means for rotating the outlet. In theaccompanying drawings which form a part of the specification and inwhich like reference characters denote like parts throughout the same,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a gas turbine engine constructed inaccordance with this invention, showing the compressor and other partsof the engine in dotted lines, and having the nose of the fairing partlybroken away to show in a general way the location of the sprinkler,

Fig. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the nose of a fairingshowing the details of the sprinklers construction,

Fig. 3 is the view taken on section 3-3 in Fig. 2,

Fig. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the nose of a fairingshowing details of an alternative construction, embodying an auxiliaryelectric motor, and

Fig. 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the nose of a fairingshowing details of an alternative construction, embodying an auxiliaryhydraulic motor.

As an example, the sprinkler 10 is shown installed in an axial flow gasturbine engine (Fig. l). The engine has an annular intake 11 bounded byinner and outer walls, of which the inner wall is formed by the centralfairing 12, and the outer wall is formed by the ring 25. Intake 11carries the flow of air to and through inlet guide vanes 26 and fixedand rotatable compressor blades 27. 'It is desired to obtain uniformdistribution of liquid across the intake before the intake air comesinto contact with said guide vanes and blades. To achieve this theintake must be smooth, clear, and unobstructed and the sprinkler 10 mustbe located at the forward end of the intake upstream and remote from theinlet guide vanes and blades.

The sprinkler 10 is installed in the forward end or nose of the centralfairing and as shown in Figures 2 and 3 embodies two holes 13 in itsouter surface forming outlets directed across the intake connected to acentral chamber 14 by small diameter tangential passages 15, 15. Thechamber 14 is closed by a nut 14a which may conveniently be made ofporous metal, for reasons which will be explained later. The head of thesprinkler comprises a mushroom-shaped rotor or spinner 16 mountedcentrally upon and rotatable with a hollow shaft 17 which is carried inbearings 18 installed in a housing 12a mounted on the forward end of thecentral fairing 12. The contours of the forwardly facing surfaces of thespinner 16 and the housing 12a are such that they fair smoothly intoone, another and into the surface of the central fairing 12 and formpart of the inner wall of the intake. The bore of the hollow shaft 17forms a passage or duct 17a feeding into the chamber 14. Immediately tothe rear of the bearings, within the central fairing, is a secondchamber 19 fed with liquid by a pipe 20 from a remote source (not shown)and the end of the shaft protrudes into the second chamber so that acontinuous passage is provided from the pipe 20 to the outlets 13.

Liquid is supplied under pressure from the source to the pipe 20 and therear chamber 19; it flows forwardly through the duct 17a in the hollowshaft 17 to the chamber 14 and thence, by way of the passages 15, to theoutlet holes 13. In my preferred embodiment, the passages 15, 15extending substantially at right angles to the axis of rotation bf thespinner and in a direction outlets into the intake 11 takes placelaterally, rather than radially to the axis of result, the reaction ofthe ejected liquid on the spinner causes it torotateas a hydraulicreactionrnotpr, in the direction. of the. arrow A, and ata speeddependent upon the pressure of the supply of liquid. In thisconstruction the spinner ,16 is the rotor of the hydraulic re'actibnmotor and the holes 13 are the exhaust outlets for the motor.

Other means for rotating the spinner may be used. In the embodiment ofthe inventi'onillustrated in Figure 4 the spinner is rotated by a smallelectric motor;21 mountspinner comprising a head and a shaft journalledin said fairing, a passage extending longitudinally through said thespinner 16 (Fig. 3); asa

ed to the rear of the assembly and drivingtheshaft 17 through splines22. Liquid entering chamber 19 through pipe 20 enters duct 17 in thehollow shaft 17 through aperture23'. j In the embodiment illustrated, inFigure '5,

a hydraulic motor 24 is similarly mounted. and operated bythewater-injection liquid or anti-icing liquid enter ingth'e motorunderpressure from the source of 'supply through pipe 20 and exhaustinginto the chamber. 19, from which it passes through aperture 23 t0 theductIIT. in the shaft 17 and is eventually ejected through the spinnerintothe air intake.

Those skilled in the art will readily appreciatethat in order toac'hieveadequate distribution of a liquid by sprinkling, it has beennecessary to depart from the p ta: ciple of atomization on emergencefrom a spray nozzle and to inject the liquid into the transverse airstream in the. form of relatively large droplets capableof adequatepenetration by virtue oftheir momentum. Some degree of atomization ofthe droplets will then take place in the air stream itself.

A srnall portion of the liquid in the chamber 14 passes through theporous closure nut 14a and thence iflows downstream over the surface ofthe spinner; this arrangementis beneficial in preventing theaccumulation of'ice on thefe'xtrem e nose of the spinner, when theinstalla tion is beingused for anti-icing purposes. a

It will .be understood that the requirements of waterinjection andtheintroduction of anti-icing fluid differ and that although in bothcases the distribution and-de: gree of penetration of the liquid in thetransverse {air stream must be uniform, in the case of water-injection asprinkler will be used which ;will pass a considerably greater quantityoff liquid than is required for anti-icing.

The forms'of the invention herewith shownand describedare to'be taken asexamples of the same arid that various changes in the shape, size andarrangement of the parts may'be resorted to without departing from thescope of the .subj'oined claims. i

What Iclai'm as 'my inventionis: v

l.'In a gas turbine engine having anannular la iri intake, formed byafixed central fairing which constitutes the inner'wall of theintaketand an outer casing which is spaced from .the centralfai'ring and.which formsthe outer wall of the intake, a spinner which fairs smoothlyinto the contour of the wall of the centralfai ring adshaft andlaterally through said head and opening into the intake through a holein the surface of the head, a source of liquid, and a passage from saidsource of liquid communicating with said passage in the spinner forsupplying liquid to said passage for ejection into the intake throughsaid hole. 7 7

i v 3. In agas turbine engine having an annular air intake formed by afixed centralfairing which constitutes the inner wall f theintakeand afixed outer casing which is spaced frorn thecentral fairing and whichforms the outer wall of the intake, a sprinkler comprising a spinnerwhich fairs smoothly into the contour of one of the fixed walls of theintake and which has at least one hole in itsjsurfacelforniing anfoutletopening into and directed aeross-tlie'forward end'of'said annularintake, both walls of the.an 'nular intakeibeing free of obstructionthus providinga smooth passage for the air through the intake, a s onrceof liquid under pressure, a passage for conveying theliquidto' theutle't' opening in the spinner for ejece 1r ir take; said; passageadjacent the outg? lsposled in' afdirection other than parallel to theaxis of 'rotationfloftthe spinner and in a direction other than radial'thus providing means for rotating the spinner by' thc 'isaqtien 'tojtheejection of the liquid from;thefpassageth'i ough the outlet into theintake.

"-4. In a 'gas' turbine engine having fixed and rotarypartsan'iannularah intake formed by a fixed central fairingwhichco'nstitutes the inner wall of the intake and afixed outer ica'sing which is spaced from the central fairing and ,whichjforms theouter Wall of the intake, a

' sp rinklereompfrising'jja spinner which fairs smoothly into jacent theentry of the intake at the forward end thereof I and rotatable about thelongitudinalaxis. of thefairing, said spinner comprising a head-andashaft journalled in said fairing,"a passage ex-tending through said shaftaud head andopening into the intake through ,a hole i pthe surfaceof the-head, a source of liquid, and a pas sagei frogi I said source ofliquid communicating with said passage in th spinner for supplyingliquid to said vpassage for.ejection intothe intake through said hole. i

2. In a gas turbine engine having an annularairintake, formed by a fixedcentraLfairing which constitutes the inner wall of the intake and anouter casing ,whichis spaced from the central fairing and which formstheouter Wall of the intake, a spinner which fairs smoothly into thecontour of the wall of the central fairing adjacent the entry of theintake at the forward .end thereof and ro,- tatable about thelongitudinal axis o fthe fairing, ,said

the contour iofo ne of the fixed walls of the intake and which hasaleast 'onehole in its surface forming an outlet openingiritoand'directed across the forward end of said annular intake, b'oth walls ofthe annular intake being free of obstruction thus providing a smoothpassagefor"the ai'r th rough' the intake, a source of liquid tinderpiesjslire, n hydraulic motor mounted on a fixed part'nofthe' engine forrotating said spinner, means for supplying liq'nid from the source toenergize the hydraulic moton'a'nd 'a passage for conducting liquidexhausted from the mot'or toth'e outlet inthe spinner for ejectionfromtlie outlet across'the air intake.

5.1113 gas; turbine engine having an annular air intakeformed,byaj'iixedcentral fairing which constitutes the innerwall of th eintakeand a fixed outer casing which is spaced from th'elcentral fairingand which forms the outer Iof the "intake, means for introducing liquidinto the a1r entering 's'aid intakecompn'sing a hydraulic reaction motormouhted upon said'fairing, the said motor liaving a 'roto f whichisadapted to. rotate substantially co-axially with theihtake and whichcarries an exhaust outletoperiihgi tojthe 'said intake, whereby theexhaust from thel'rriotor is discharged into the intake as the rotorrptates,' 'a'sour.ce of ."liquid under pressure, and a means ofsupplying liquid from the source to the motor.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS12,075,658 Ramsbottom Mar. 30, 1937 12,156,103 'Austin Apr. 25, 1939"2249,940 Bullochj July 22, 1941 2,278,206 Marshall Mar. 31, 19422,278,640 Berge 'j Apr. 7, 1942 -'-2,40 6, 473 "l Palmatier Aug. 27,1946 2,469,375 Flagle May 10, 1949 2,499,831 "-Balmatier Q Mar. 7, 1950"2,551,697 'fPalmat'ier May 8, 1951 12.566319 Deacon 1.; Sept. 4, 1951 rFOREIGN PATENTS .540.013 Great Britain Oct. 2, 1941 634,267 GreatBritain." Mar. 15, 1950

